Dear King’s community,
The Final Report (“the report”) of the Independent Review conducted by Rubin Thomlinson LLP is expected in the relatively near future. The exact date is unknown. My purpose today is to inform you of the method by which it will be made public, as per our promise to the community. As you will read, the process will take time.
To begin, the Final Report will be delivered to me by Janice Rubin.
As stated in the Terms of Reference:
“A final report will be submitted to the President. A copy of the final report, with appropriate redactions in accordance with applicable law to protect individual privacy, will be released to the community.”
I am now in conversations with Ms. Rubin about how and when I will receive the report and about what I will be expected to do after I receive the report. All of these matters are being worked out in considerable detail with Ms. Rubin and I will be following her advice and directions carefully.
Maintaining the individual privacy of the people who have shared their experiences with Ms. Rubin is of preeminent and overriding importance. I share the determination of Ms. Rubin to ensure the college fully meets this priority not only in how and when we share the Final Report with the King’s community but on a permanent basis, guided by the wishes of the people whose privacy we will be dedicated to protecting.
The process of making the necessary redactions to protect privacy will take time. Therefore, there will be a delay after I receive the report before we are able to share it with the community.
In May of 2021, we received an Interim Report from Ms. Rubin and her colleague Elizabeth Bingham that included the following recommendation:
“We recommend that King’s consider how it can put supports in place to allow the community to process our final report, such as community forums, town hall meetings, and/or access to counselling. We believe it is necessary for King’s to acknowledge and internalize the past in order to move forward as a community.”
Accordingly, we are expecting a Final Report that concludes people have suffered harms and that the university has accountability for their suffering.
In accordance with this expectation, when we receive the report, I want everyone in our community to know that my first priority will be talking about the report with those who have experienced harm. These discussions will be open-ended and will include the topic of how the university should proceed with its commitment to making the final report available to the King’s community. These conversations will take as long as they take. They may therefore delay the timing of the release of the report beyond the time required for the redaction process.
Both the redactions process and the process of making myself available to those who have been harmed before releasing the Final Report to the community, are in accordance with the values and principles that are at the core of the university’s Sexualized Violence Awareness Prevention and Response Policy and the Action Plan for a Culture of Consent and Respect we developed in response to the Interim Report.
Before ending I want to emphasize we have, as a community of care and concern, worked hard on all of the recommendations contained in the interim report, including the recommendation quoted above. Under the leadership of Sexual Health and Safety Officer Jordan Roberts, Dean of Students Katie Merwin, and Vice-President Sarah Clift, we have been implementing our Action Plan for a Culture of Consent and Respect, including by having the supports in place to support community members in their processing of the Final Report. You will find the Action Plan, which is a living document, updated to January 20, 2023, at Action Plan for a Culture of Consent and Respect. In addition, at any time and all times, a resource page of student supports is available on our website, and faculty and staff can access support through the Employee Assistance Plan (EAP). More information on the supports available will be made available as the need for them arises, including for our alumni.
I appreciate that this is a matter of great interest to everyone in and outside our community. King’s remains committed to transparency, to our care for those who have experienced sexualized violence and to the promise of action on all recommendations made by Rubin Thomlinson that I made on February 2, 2021 and that I repeated on May 31, 2022.
Thank you,
Bill
William Lahey
President, Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law
Note: The date for the January 2023 Update to the Action Plan for a Culture of Consent and Respect has been changed from January 23 to January 20, for accuracy.
